A conflict between passengers at Lindbergh Field Tuesday night caused the overnight delay of an American Airlines flight headed to Chicago.

Flight 590 was scheduled to depart at 11 p.m. for Chicago O'Hare International Airport but was rescheduled for Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. after some kind of dispute among customers started at the gate and continued onto the plane, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner.

While Wagner said it is the airlines policy not to disclose any information about their passengers, televised reports claimed that the incident involved a group of six to seven Iraqi Americans and another passenger who was apparently uncomfortable that the men were speaking in Arabic.

The jet left the gate at 11:14 p.m. but did not take off and instead returned at 11:26 p.m. after a traveler with a child elected to get off the plane, Wagner said.

Christine Zugay of Chicago was on board flight 590. She said that after the plane's doors closed and everyone was seated, the plane left the gate and began to taxi toward the runway.

The pilot then came on the intercom and said there was a problem onboard the jet that needed to be taken care of, and that they were returning to the gate, Zugay said.

A few minutes later, the pilot notified passengers that the flight would have to be rescheduled due to Lindbergh Field's 11:30 p.m. curfew on departures.

Zugay said she did not see or hear any altercation on the plane, but that disembarking passengers were talking about a woman and a child who had left the flight.

Wagner said that no passengers were selectively taken off the plane.

He said that all of the flight's passengers had to disembark and that all were welcome to re-board this morning's flight.

OMG!! San Diego has it's own Flying Imams! Those swarthy bastards were speaking their crazy moonman language and probably plotting to...what? Really? You don't say:

All passengers on an American Airlines redeye flight to Chicago were ordered off a plane after complaints about a group of Arabic-speaking Iraqi men, forcing them to stay overnight.

The six Iraqi passengers had been training Marines at Camp Pendleton and worked for Defense Training Systems, a unit of International Logistics Services Corp. of Anchorage, Alaska, said Dave Stephens, the company's chief executive officer.

"They did nothing wrong," Stephens said Wednesday. A company press release called it "an unfortunate situation for all flight passengers."

Local law enforcement questioned the men, who were quickly released, said American spokesman Tim Wagner. The Transportation Security Administration did not get involved, said agency spokesman Nico Melendez.

Details of what happened before American Flight 590's scheduled departure late Tuesday were sketchy.

A passenger who was traveling with two children got into an argument with the Iraqi men, Wagner said.

A woman...with two children...got into an argument with the Iraqis. Hmmmm.

I have to admit that even I am stunned at the virulence that Republicans have have expressed against Senator Larry Craig, and so quickly I might add. Loss of his committee leadership posts, calls for his resignation, nobody wants to share an ice cream cone with him anymore.... sad, so very sad.

If only he had not been so gay and had, instead, just checked into a hotel room, donned a diaper, and fucked a couple of hookers like a normal Republican. They are conservatives and thinking outside the box is just unacceptable.

If the Senate Democrats insist, as they surely will, that they approve of the person named, then we are guaranteed of not getting a prosecutor sympathetic to Bush. Richard Nixon was caught in that trap when he removed Richard Kleindienst as attorney general and nominated Elliot Richardson. Richardson, though a highly regarded veteran of several Cabinet posts, was required not only to promise a special prosecutor, but to name his candidate and to draft a charter satisfactory to the Judiciary Committee, guaranteeing the man’s independence. Though the man he named, Archibald Cox, performed well, special prosecutors in general have a very mixed record for devotion to justice rather than to partisan behavior, self-aggrandizement, or both. Recall, for instance, the highly political performance of Lawrence Walsh, who seemed intent upon blackening the reputation of the first Bush and who forced plea bargains by spending taxpayers’ money in amounts that his prey could not match. More recently, we have witnessed the disgraceful performance of Patrick Fitzgerald, who, knowing from day one who had leaked the name of Valerie Plame and that no crime had been committed, not only continued his “investigation” but persuaded those with knowledge of the truth to remain silent. The upshot was press and public suspicion of the president and of Karl Rove for months on end. Moreover, Fitzgerald is responsible for the blatant miscarriage of justice in the conviction of Scooter Libby, whose scandal amounted to recollecting a phone conversation differently from Tim Russert, a feat reminiscent of Mike Nifong’s less successful adventures in prosecutorial abuse.

Robert Ray had enough evidence to indict and convict President Clinton -- he just chose not to. That was the headline on nearly every story about the Office of Independent Counsel's Final Report on the Lewinsky investigation, released last week. To his critics, Ray sounded like a schoolboy who, after running from a fight, later claims he could have beaten the other guy up. Really . He just decided not to.

How good was the evidence Ray had? We still don't know. The report sheds almost no light on the quality of his case against Clinton. We've known for years that during his deposition in Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against him, Clinton's answers to questions about Monica Lewinsky were comically evasive, even to the point of lying, if we mean "lying" in the common-sense, colloquial sense of the term. There's almost nothing new here.

What is new in the report is, strangely, getting very little attention. Or maybe it isn't strange. So much of the media was invested in breathless, often uncritical coverage of Clinton's impeachment, and the investigation that triggered it, that to blow the whistle on Ray's report might force reporters to look at the extent to which they colluded with the president's enemies. The investigation Ray inherited from his predecessor Kenneth Starr cost $70 million, and in the end yielded only the promise that it could have led to the president's indictment, but didn't. We all deserved more than that. (Although stay tuned: Ray promises that Part 2 will focus on Whitewater, the Clinton land deal that launched the Starr investigation in the first place. But since Starr himself decided not to proceed with indictments in that matter, it's probably safe to assume Part 2 won't contain any OIC-vindicating bombshells, either.)

But if the Clinton evidence isn't big news, the Ray report contains at least two fascinating revelations that haven't gotten nearly enough coverage. First, Ray's claim that the investigation showed that Starr's office didn't illegally leak grand jury information to the media is preposterous, based on a parsing of evidence more misleading than Clinton's famous "depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." And second, after spending almost $2 million to investigate her shocking claims against Clinton, the OIC apparently found Kathleen Willey, whose smeared lipstick almost toppled a presidency, not believable.

For those keeping score at home...

Lawrence Walsh: investigating the selling of weapons to Iran and using the money to fund terrorists in Nicaragua.

Patrick Fitzgerald: investigating the public exposure of a CIA agent during a time of war in retaliation against her husband who embarrassed the President.

Bob's lawyers gave Assistant State Attorney Pat Whitaker one of those folded-up blue thingies that Jack McCoy is forever receiving on Law & Order and now some of the Bobbers comments after being arrested are no longer operative:

"They will still have an impact on public opinion," said T. Wayne Bailey, a political-science professor at Stetson University in DeLand.

Allen, R-Merritt Island, is accused of agreeing to pay $20 to perform oral sex on an undercover police officer July 11 in a public-park restroom.

In the taped statement that was tossed out Monday, Allen said he was just playing along because he was intimidated by the undercover officer, who he described as a "stocky black guy," and that he thought he was going to be robbed.

The comments prompted outrage among civil-rights groups and calls for his resignation. Since then, House Speaker Marco Rubio stripped Allen of his legislative committee appointments, saying he could "no longer effectively serve the people" of his district.

[...]

Hotusing said he would rule later on whether to allow the jury to hear two other statements Allen allegedly gave to police.

When Allen was being placed in a marked patrol car after his arrest outside Veteran's Memorial Park, he asked whether it "would help" if he was a state legislator, according to a police report.

The officer said he replied, "No."

Police also said Allen indicated he had $800 in his car.

Allen's attorney, Greg Eisenmenger, said both remarks should be suppressed because Allen had not been read his Miranda rights by the arresting officer.

But Whitaker argued they were made voluntarily and should be admissible.

I think the comment about having $800 in the car may be just a tad prejudicial since it seems that Bob Allen was implying that he had enough cash on hand to blow forty cops at twenty bucks a pop, which, and not be judgmental here, seems kind of slutty.

With all of his other problems I can't imagine he wants to be thought of as a tramp too...

Who's that gigolo on the streetWith his hands in his pockets and his crocodile feetHanging off the curb, looking all disturbedAt the boys from home. They all came runningThey were making noise, manhandling toys

But...before I go, this is for Larry Craig just in case he's changing planes at Buffalo Niagara International...

Since I was working while all the fun with Larry Craig was breaking, we'll just point out that soon to be ex-Senator Craig was part of TeamMitt:

He has been one of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s top Senate supporters, serving as a Senate liaison for the campaign since February. As word spread of Craig’s guilty plea, a Romney campaign spokesman, Matt Rhoades, said in a statement: “Senator Craig has stepped down from his role with the campaign. He did not want to be a distraction and we accept his decision.”

No wonder Romney sycophant Hugh Hewitt wants Craig out of the Senate faster than shit through a retriever.

Unfortunately for me, in my "Next Republican Caught Soliciting Sex In A Bathroom" pool at work, I had Lindsey Graham so I guess Craig and I are both unlucky stiffs in our own ways...

Of course, the big news today is the resignation of Alberto Gonzales suicide attempt by Owen Wilson which no one should find surprising having viewed his performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee in You, Me and Dupree.

We sincerely hope he goes back to Texas never to heard from again recovers.

This weeks MittTheme is stamina and the fact that the five brothers are self-confessed pussies compared to DadMitt who never sleeps because he has to watch for the skies for the MittSignal in case America needs him to bail out an Olympics or strap the dog to the top of the car for a quick Labor Day road trip or something.

Ben Ginsberg and I just completed a 2-day 9-airport 6-city swing through California. It came on the heels of a 2-day 10-event stop in Houston for me, and I have to be honest with you, I am a little tired. I have no idea how my Dad keeps his schedule - he has more energy than anyone I have known other than his Dad.

I was in Arizona yesterday rolling out the "Rally for Romney" program.

I kept busy all day doing about 10 television, radio and print interviews. It's pretty exhausting, I still have no idea how my dad is able to do it day after day. Here's a shot of me with Tom and Austin from the Liddy and Hill show.

Ben:

I just flew in from Boston and boy are my dad's arms not tired.

Obviously I made up that last one because we all know that Ben is the Reluctant Romney and just wishes his dad would get a real job and quit using him and his brothers as props while wasting their inheritance.

Meanwhile Craig travels to Florida to meet with supporters who are diligently working on campaign signs guaranteed to appeal to the all-important five year-old demographic.

Here I am after making some signs with local supporters

I, for one, applaud the Romney campaign for employing "Special Needs" Young Republicans.

I don't think that sportswriters should bait athletes but they also shouldn't settle for cliches or lob softball questions in the direction of the coaches and athletes. Having said that, I thought this was pretty funny:

Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a go-ahead homer off Brett Myers in the ninth inning, one of two Myers allowed in the inning, and the San Diego Padres beat Philadelphia 4-3 on Saturday night to hand the slumping Phillies their fourth straight loss.

After the game, Myers got into a shouting match with a reporter and had to be restrained by teammate Pat Burrell.

When Myers was asked about the two home runs, he said they were really "just pop ups."

A reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer questioned whether Myers really thought they were pop ups, and Myers got angry.

"You're not even a beat reporter, you're a fill-in, you don't know anything about baseball," said Myers, who then called the reporter "retarded."

The Inquirer reporter asked if Myers could spell retarded, and Myers stood up. Burrell then restrained Myers, and Myers refused to speak any further

One of the accusations commonly tossed at the Bush administration is that they politicize the war on terror. Critics use every warning from the White House about elevated threat levels to claim that the administration wants to get some sort of political boost from the announcement. It reached its nadir when Madeline Albright and Teresa Kerry both claimed six weeks before the 2004 election (see update below) that Bush had Osama bin Laden locked up and would announce it as an October Surprise, the dumbest and least-realized political meme ever.

Now Hillary Clinton has decided to play the same game, with a silly analysis of who would benefit from a terrorist attack on the US...

[...]

From a purely political point of view, the question demeans the audience to which it was asked and exposes the poser as the poseur she is. Most hilariously, she used this hypothetical to explain how she deals with negative attacks from Republicans. It's hard to get more negative -- and more foolish -- than to speculate that a terrorist attack would give the GOP an advantage, and that she's prepared to take political advantage of the situation should it arise.

It's an asinine statement. It shows what happens when Hillary gets away from her handlers and starts talking on her own. The only relation she has to her husband's political sense is her last name.

A November win by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry would put the United States at risk of another "devastating" terrorist attack, Vice President Dick Cheney told supporters Tuesday.

[...]

Cheney told Republican supporters at a town hall meeting in Des Moines that they needed to make "the right choice" in the November 2 election.

"If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again -- that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney said.

"And then we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mindset, if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts and that we're not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us."

Well, not for Dick Cheney. He's has his undisclosed location and all, but you get the idea. You've got a nice country there, it would be a shame if someone shot it in the face...

I may have mentioned Michelle Malkin once or twice before, who can say, but today she reminds us of a column from 2003 that she is quite proud of:

August 1, 2003Letting it all hang outMichelle Malkin

How low can we go? I am talking, of course, about today’s waistbands.

If you thought the belly-baring thing was bad enough, take a good look at the sartorial depths to which fashion has now sunk. The Los Angeles Times this week declared it “the summer of the pelvic bone.” Last year’s already obscene low-riders have gone the way of high-water polyester pants.

Today’s hip-huggers have almost nothing but hope to hang onto anymore. The “normal” inseam-to-waist rise of 8 to 9 inches is shrinking faster than Britney Spears’ record sales. To wit, Levi’s has introduced a new line of jeans called “Too Superlow” for women. Upping the ante, or should I say lowering it, the teenage-girl brand Gasoline markets “Down2There” — adjustable low-rise jeans with a built-in bungee cord designed to help the wearer drop her pants to even nastier nadirs.

Canadian teen singer Avril Lavigne’s perilously sagging pants are a global youth phenomenon. “My butt crack showing is like my trademark,” she gracefully explained to a music reporter. Salon.com writer Janelle Brown approves: “[T]he butt crack is the new cleavage, reclaimed to peek seductively from the pants of supermodels and commoners alike.”

The late senator and social critic Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous phrase “Defining deviancy down” has taken on a whole new meaning.

[...]

What will it take to convince the current cohort of exhibitionistas that sleaze is not sexy — that less is not always more, that low is low-class? If Generation X-rated can’t be persuaded to cover up out of moral necessity, perhaps they will listen to medical authority. A warning about the health hazards of low-rise pants was published in the Canadian Medical Asssociation six months ago. According to Dr. Malvinder Parmar, a painful condition called “meralgia paresthetica” is causing wearers of hip-huggers to experience “tingling or a burning sensation” in the thighs.

Dr. Parmar’s treatment: four to six weeks in — the horror! — loose-fitting dresses. Must have been worse than swallowing cod liver oil.

Avril and Britney and Brad need to show their fans that a little extra fabric is not a death sentence. The late Kate Hepburn melted hearts while fully clothed in turtlenecks and roomy, belted trousers. She was a “hottie” who showed us her cheekbones, and left the rest where it should be left: to the imagination.

Well yes, but according to Michelle there is a proper time to show off the goods and that time is... in front of the Muslims:

I noted the Muslim student protest of US pop star Gwen Stefani’s scheduled Malaysia concert earlier this month. Well, the concert went off without a hitch today. As promised, Stefani behaved nicely for the Islamo-enforcers and covered herself according to the dictates of sharia law:

Gwen Stefani was a good girl, just like she promised.

The 37-year-old pop star wowed fans in Muslim-majority Malaysia on Tuesday, performing in costumes that showed almost no skin after Islamic critics claimed that her revealing clothes could corrupt the country’s youth. She burst onto the stage wearing a black leotard under a white short-sleeved shirt and black-and-white striped hot pants suit, with black gloves up to her elbows.

She changed costumes for every song, remaining fully covered as she belted out tunes such as “The Sweet Escape,” “Rich Girl,” “Wind it Up” and “Hollaback Girl.” Stefani had promised to dress modestly after the 10,000-member National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students charged that her skimpy outfits and cheeky performances clashed with Islamic values. The opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party also accused her of promoting promiscuity and corrupting the country’s youth. In an interview with Galaxie, a local entertainment magazine, Stefani said she had made many changes for Malaysia, calling it a “major sacrifice.”

“I’ve been in the music industry for 20 years and this is the first time that I’m facing opposition from people who have misunderstood me,” she was quoted as saying.

“I’m not a bad girl,” she said.

No, not a bad girl. Just a dhimmi. That’s all that they’ll let her be...

But...but.. we thought that covering up was a "moral necessity" and that "a little extra fabric is not a death sentence". It is possible that in 2003 that Malkin herself was indulging in dhimmitude but I tend to think it's her usual stupidfuckitude.

Pre-Friday Random TenSome kids like watching Saturday cartoonsSome girls listen to records all day in their roomsBut what do birds leave behind, of the wings that they came withIf a son's in a tree building model planes?

Oh shit. You mean people have actually read that book? I never read that book. Did you read that book? I never read that book. Oh shit.

Not since David Frum got canned because his nitwit wife was bragging that he coined the term "axis of evil" has there been so much fun with presidential speech writing until today when someone thought it was a good idea to cite Alden Pyle as a role model in the President's speech.

Evil is where you find itNot brown enough for "true evil". More like "Assistant Night Manager Trainee evil".

Eight months after it happened the story of Iraqi five-year-old Youssif for some reason became one of todays headlines and even though the story points out that the case is unsolved (no suspects, no motive) Dr. Sanity has it all figured out.

This story today which is actually about something that happened some months back, is a grim reminder of the kind of depravity and sadism that motivates the creatures we are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world in this war on terror/Islamic fanaticism.

I am reminded of something written by New Sisyphus (now retired) in this post, which captures the contempt and anger I feel about the great, holy Islamic warrior-cowards.

One might be inclined to point out any number of horrifying atrocities that happen here in Rainbow Puppy Freedom Land, involving people like James Byrd, Matthew Sheppard, Marla Hanson, Latosha Taylor, or the Petit family in Connecticut,. And if you want someone who, in the words of Dr. Sanity, commits an atrocity "in the name of some supposedly "great" god" I suppose an introduction to James Kopp might be in order. However, since he is otherwise detained, maybe brunch with his fan club can be arranged. That would be fun, and she wouldn't have to be discomfited by their crazy Muslim religion of peace. They're Americans... just like her!

“With keen wit and unparalleled insight, Diana West traces the national decline of adulthood and the rise of the permanent adolescent class in American life. From James Dean to Elvis to Bill Clinton, from "anything goes" to "whatever," un-parents have succumbed to the Teen Age...."

After reviewing the latest critique of the CIA's failures to foresee the pre-9/11 dangers of radical Islam, and while reading the final sordid details surrounding the Pvt. Beauchamp fables published at The New Republic, and viewing the latest phony wire-photos from Iraq (the poor victimized Iraqi woman holding unfired cartridges as 'proof' of coalition bullets that hit her home), I was wondering who will monitor our self-righteous monitors?

The answer, like it or not, in the post-Plame, post-Scheuer, post-Tenet era is that no one believes much what the CIA says any more about the Middle East; no one believes that a wire-photo from there is genuine or its caption accurate; and no one necessarily believes anything in once respected magazines, whether the Periscope section of Newsweek or anything published in The New Republic. The common gripe is that the administration lied to the public about WMD in Iraq; but what is lost is that once revered institutions proved disingenuous in their accusations and unreliable in their performance.

Richard Miniter of Piddle Pants Media gives the The New Republic some tips on fact checking:

Scott Thomas Beauchamp was not a staffer; he may not have ever stepped foot in The New Republic’s two-floor rabbit warren of offices. But he was an insider, through his wife.

Perhaps the fact-checkers believed that they didn’t have to check his work thoroughly because they knew and trusted his wife, who they affectionately called “Ellie.”

The New Republic’s fact-checking department may be structurally flawed. At the magazines with the best reputation for fact-checking, The New Yorker and Reader’s Digest, fact-checking is a career. At The New Republic, it is an entry level job known as “reporter-researcher.” It is a stepping stone, a dues-paying drudgery endured so that one can become a full-time writer. Even the job title is revealing. The “reporter” part comes first. Often the fact-checkers are busy writing items of their own for The Plank, the magazine’s weblog, or the magazine itself. (Elspeth Reeve has written a number of pieces; one was about Bob Tyrell’s book party at Morton’s.) So it would not have taken much for one of the fact-checkers to skim, not scrutinize, Beauchamp’s “Baghdad Diarist” pieces.[...]

But The New Republic cannot control the story. An insider-turned-whistleblower and the fabricator’s former fiancée, as well as other sources, have spoken to PajamasMedia.com—providing a plethora of new details that raise new questions.

Those questions include: Did the fabricator’s wife, Elspeth Reeve, fact-check her husband’s articles? Did her staff position make other fact-checkers go easy on him? Why didn’t Reeve’s knowledge of Beauchamp’s character and history make her skeptical of his work? (Remember the old journalist saw: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”)

A source close to Pajamas Media has learned that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has apparently succumbed to the cancer that hospitalized him last month, as exclusively reported by Pajamas Media, at age 67. He has been Iran’s most powerful figure since replacing Ayatollah Khomeini in the role of Supreme Leader in 1989.

UPDATE: Some sources, evidently including a family member, are reporting that Khamenei, in grave condition, was alive as recently as yesterday. Our source reported that he died today. More to come. It is the middle of the night in Iran.

MORE: Farideh Vafai - spokeswoman for Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran - made the following comment to PJM Washington Editor Richard Miniter: “We cannot confirm this news. We have heard rumors but so far have no confirmation.” Ms. Vafai was reached at Pahlavi’s Secretariat in Falls Church, VA.

LATE UPDATE FROM RICHARD MINITER:Banafshef Zand-Bonazzi runs Iran Press News, a New York-based non-profit service which translates the output of Iran’s television, radio and newspapers. When I reached her at home, she seemed confident that the reports of Khamenei’s death were not exaggerated.

“I have looked around the Iranian (Farsi-language) press and have not yet found a confirmation of Khamenei’s death. This does not surprise me, given the atmosphere of the recent elections that highlights the explosive factional tension among the various mullah cliques. Michael Ledeen, who broke the news, has rarely if ever, reported anything incorrectly. I trust his sources. My feeling is that if Khamenei is not yet dead, he will be soon. Rumors of his illness have been circulating for a long time and certainly the way he has been conducting himself recently came across as someone who is putting his affairs in order. He did not show up to give his usual Eid speech last week—this is unprecedented.”

The Eid speech is traditionally given at the end of the pilgrimage (or hajj) season. It has long been a set piece of Persian propaganda efforts and, until this year, only had one star—Khamenei himself.

She added: “I think that after Khamenei’s demise, various factions will be scrambling for the power. It could very well be the beginning of a gangland style battle which leads the Islamic regime to self-destruction. “

Reporting the killing of a dog in Iraq? Unleash the hounds of "fact-checking".

Reporting (EXCLUSIVE!) the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader and breathlessly pointing out how it may lead to a "gangland style battle which leads the Islamic regime to self-destruction". Even Richard Miniter's mother doesn't love him enough not to laugh at that.

Even before President Bush touches down in the Twin Cities on Tuesday to raise money for Sen. Norm Coleman, some Minnesota Republicans seem ready to wave goodbye to the president.

Keenly aware of Bush's sagging poll numbers -- and the obvious Democratic strategy of stitching GOP candidates like Coleman as tightly as possible to the White House -- Republican strategists are pronouncing the lame-duck president a non-issue in next year's Senate race.

"We're entering into a post-Bush world," said Mark Drake, a spokesman for the Minnesota Republican Party, "whether the Democrats like it or not."

This is even better:

Regular photo ops with Coleman at Bush's side aren't likely. It's not even certain that the Democrats will get the camera angle they seek a year from now at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. While most departing presidents of modern times have attended their party's convention and been lavishly saluted there, Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Republican Convention, said Bush's involvement "has not been determined."

Looks like the only place in Minneapolis/St. Paul where Bush will be welcome will be a John Hinderaker's house. As long as he comes in through the servants entrance. You know... can't have the neighbors talking.

I remember a time in America when people would kind of laugh nervously and then find an excuse to go talk to someone else in the room when someone talked like this,. This is just a reminder that, when it comes to Randians, antisocial personality disorder is not a bug, it's a feature.

I had a lovely flight back to the mainland with Allison the Three Year-Old Anti-Christ sitting behind me kicking the seat ("Allison don't kick the seat", "Allison don't kick the seat", Allison don't kick the seat".... repeat ineffectively) and the whining, crying, screaming, and general overall petulance. For five hours. A good case could be made for legalizing the sale of over-the-counter Ether-Moist Towlettes™.

As you may remember, DadMitt won the Iowa Straw Poll but nobody took it seriously because he had to give the each of the 4516 people who voted for him a new car just like Oprah would if she were running for President. The end result was a bevy of articles about second place finisher Mike Huckabee and what a great guy he is even though nobody wanted to mention his crazy son who, like the Romney boys, is also not in Iraq but for better reasons.

This week Tom Brady look-alike Craig was at the Illinois State Fair (yes, the Romneys do like their state fairs) where there was ANOTHER STRAW POLL which you probably didn't hear about. And for good reason. We'll let Craig 'splain it:

I spent the day yesterday at the Illinois State Fair where my dad won the Republican Presidential Straw Poll. It was exciting to see the campaign carry some momentum from the Iowa Straw Poll victory into Illinois. We don’t have a lot of paid staff or an extensive field operation in Illinois, but the efforts of the volunteers, particularly Senator Dan Rutherford, helped secure the win. Here I am pictured with Senator Rutherford and Illinois Finance Co-Chairman, Terry Graunke.

"Not far from the cotton candy vendors, Illinois Republicans spun a small piece of political history at the Illinois State Fair Thursday, with a presidential straw poll that organizers hope could someday provide an Iowa-like influence in early primary campaigning."

...

"Fewer than 1,000 people voted in the event, which handed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney his second Midwestern poll victory in as many weeks. Primed by beer and a live band, fairgoers lined up at electronic voting screens on a muddy lawn near the fairground's goat barn. Media coverage was mostly local and subdued."

Several points:

The point of the Craig's post was to emphasize that DadMitt can too win a straw poll without buying all of the voters a pork sandwich and a gift card from Stuckey's.

This all-important vote took place over by the goat barn. Yes, the goat barn. This would explain why the voters had to get liquored up to vote.

Craig Romney doesn't know how to create an embedded link.

Then there is the matter of Craig's selective block-quoting from McDermott's article. Here is Craig again:

"Not far from the cotton candy vendors, Illinois Republicans spun a small piece of political history at the Illinois State Fair Thursday, with a presidential straw poll that organizers hope could someday provide an Iowa-like influence in early primary campaigning."

Not far from the cotton candy vendors, Illinois Republicans spun a small piece of political history at the Illinois State Fair Thursday, with a presidential straw poll that organizers hope could someday provide an Iowa-like influence in early primary campaigning.

For now, though, even the event's boosters admit it was all fluff and little substance.

Wedding Bell NewsFather thought she said "Hagler". Started drinking again

Jenna Bush (not NotJenna), whose father tried to make money looking for oil in Texas but failed miserably, will wedHenry Hager, whose father sold tobacco to Americans and gave them cancer; a wedding that World O' Crap predicted back in November '05 (although they failed to factor in Jenna's "Slutting Through South America Tour", as well as her fling with one Ramiro (who will later be hired as a pool boy and brought to the states if Jenna can get permission from Michelle Malkin).

No date has been set, but since Hager used to work for Karl Rove, we assume that they'll try to slip it in-between everyone's subpoenaed Congressional appearances.

A lot of people have written their stories about the straw poll victory we enjoyed at Ames. Having seen the effort and the triumph from the inside, I thought I'd share a few of my own thoughts and photos.

1. Why do you think that Governor Romney won?

He won for two reasons.

Neither of which involves $5 million.

First, my Dad is the best candidate in the race. But the fact is that as the people in Iowa have gotten to know my Dad, they have liked him and his message.

...and his $5 million.

He has traveled extensively across Iowa (over 200 events total) and answered hundreds of questions in dozens and dozens of townhalls open to the public and the media. And he has risen from about 5% in Iowa to 28% and first place in the polls in only a few months.

By spending $4.9 million more than Mike Huckabee.

2. Without some of the other top tier candidates there, does this qualify as a win?

Yes. As my Dad has said, if the other guys thought they could have won or even done well, they would have been there. Which makes the win all that more extraordinary. Do you know how hard it is to motivate voters to hop on a bus on a Saturday morning and drive several hours each way so they can wait around for hours more in 100 degree sticky heat, all for the privilege of voting for a candidate who has everyone says is a shoe-in to win?

We offered barbeque sandwiches to folks there, which was the least we could do for our supporters who braved temperatures reaching 100 degrees. And do you think that holds a candle to what they could have had a few miles down the road at the state fair? Fried twinkies, fried snicker bars, pork chops on a stick, fried Oreos... Yes, I tried them all and heavenly doesn’t begin to describe them. And you think offering them a bus ride and a pulled pork sandwich is what got them to Ames?

Well let's see...DadMitt paid the $35 voting fee, paid for the bus, and gave them free lunch for the day, and according to reports people voted and then left not even sticking around to watch the finish. Leaving plenty of time to spend the evening clogging their arteries with "heavenly" goods, so I'm gonna have to vote 'yes' on the pulled-pork/Ames question.

This will help with my Dad's name ID. He was the number one blogged about muggle...

What the fu...

the last few days, beaten only by Harry Potter.

Oh. An off-hand cultural reference for the common touch. Subtle. Nice . Proving that the Romney boys are just like any other young man in Ameri-

Mitt Romney has been asked before on the campaign trail if his sons have served in the military, and he usually has dispatched the question easily enough.

But an awkward response last week in Iowa, in which Mr. Romney said in part that “one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected,” forced him several days later to say he misspoke and injected a discordant note into his otherwise triumphant few days after he won the state’s Republican straw poll.

It has also threatened to put a chink in what has been widely viewed as a major asset in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination: his crowded family portrait, which includes five successful adult sons who have been a prominent part of his campaign.

[...]

Some have questioned the fairness of impugning Mr. Romney for his sons’ choices. It is also unclear why Mr. Romney’s children have drawn scrutiny and not those of others, like Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has a son at Duke University.

“Is it a fair question?” said Stewart Peay, the husband of Mr. Romney’s niece, who went to Iraq with the Utah National Guard. “In the world of the all-volunteer army, I don’t know if it is or not.”

But Mr. Peay said that while in Iraq he had wrestled with what difference it might have made if President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had family members in harm’s way.

“I think it’s unfortunate sometimes that we don’t have a broader group of people in the military,” he said, “but that’s a result of an all-volunteer military.”

[...]

Politicians should try to envision whether they believe in a war enough that they would send their own children, said Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, an antiwar group made up of more than 3,600 military families.

“If this war is so important, why is it O.K. for you to support our loved ones fighting it but not send your own sons?” said Ms. Lessin, whose stepson joined the Marines after college and went to Iraq.

The fact that Mr. Romney’s sons have not served is not necessarily surprising, she said, because the military tends to be dominated by those from less well-to-do backgrounds.

“There is the economic, or the opportunity, draft,” Ms. Lessin said.

[...]

Fair or not, it is likely that the issue will continue to dog Mr. Romney. He got the question again later in the week at the Iowa State Fair, this time from a man holding a photograph of his son in a soldier’s uniform.

“None of your sons are in the military?” the man asked.

Mr. Romney said they were not.

“Are they going to go over to Iraq?” the man asked.

“No, they are not,” Mr. Romney said.

“Who is going to do his job?” the man said.

“We have a volunteer army,” Mr. Romney said. “That’s the reason.”

Now I'm no political consultant, but I'm guessing that making the Five Brothers a centerpiece of a campaign while families in small towns are burying their sons and daughters is like sharing Taggs baby pictures at the funeral.

Last week, Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman trotted out the old “Blogosphere=Boys’ Club” meme. I didn’t bother linking or commenting, because all the whining from feminists about sexist male bloggers is just so old and boring

But when Goodman didn't jump ( or even have the courtesy to ask how high) when Malkin requested info, she got this from Miss Bitchy Pants:

And Ms. Goodman’s final response:

I’m on vacation but if you remind me after labor day, I’ll see if she wantsme to pass along her name, etc…cheers

Well. The results of the spreadsheet are good enough to publicize in her column, but we’re not able to look at the data ourselves until Ellen Goodman is good and ready to share what she has seen and cited.

Willy Wonka: I'm sorry, but all questions must be submitted in writing. And so, in the greatest of secrecy I transported the entire population of Oompa Loompas to my factory here.Veruca Salt: Hey, Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa. I want you to get me an Oompa Loompa right away.Mr. Salt: All right, Veruca, all right. I'll get you one before the day is out.Veruca Salt: I want an Oompa Loompa now!

Edward Luce wrote recently in the Financial Times: "The unpopularity of America's 43rd president -- even among diehard church-going Republicans of the Midwest -- is more than just a background irritant for Republicans vying to succeed him in 2009. Mr Bush is a millstone around their necks.

"Unlike the Democratic party, which is significantly outshining its rival in fundraising and in the polls, Republicans have a longstanding culture of deference towards their leader in the White House. That works when the president is Ronald Reagan, who remained popular until he stepped down. . . .

"But when their president is sinking in the eyes of the majority, it presents a sharp dilemma. 'We are caught in a bind,' says a senior staffer on one of the campaigns. 'We cannot attack George Bush because we would be punished for disloyalty by the party base. And we cannot endorse him because that would be suicide. So we tip-toe around.'"

The hurricane is on its way... we just missed the earthquake. I think they're trying to tell us something. The school is adorable, the people are nice, and the traffic laws are more like guidelines.

I like it here.

But someone better tell Malkin that the place is lousy with the Japanese and brown people. I don't know whether we're gonna need bigger internment camps or possibly a floating fence between the islands and west coast.

Early this morning I drove in the rainOut to the airport to get on the planeHey Honololu, were going to happy Hawaii

We're leaving on a jet plane tomorrow this morning straight into the teeth of Hurricane Flossie (and if I have to die in a hurricane would it be too much to ask for something a little more butch sounding than Flossie? Hurricane Dirk. Hurricane Hairy Thunderer. Hurricane Ace-o-spades. Okay. Never mind that one).

I'm taking my laptop along, but blogging will be somewhat spotty as the lovely and talented Casey and I will be trying to get the lay of the land around the campus before practices start. This will be my first time in Honolulu other than as a stopover on the way to Maui, so I'm really looking forward to leaving the tourists in San Diego to co-mingle with the tourists on Waikiki Beach.

On this solemn day it would be wrong to not revisit Ron Suskind's visit with Great American and Patriot Karl Rove:

Eventually, I met with Rove. I arrived at his office a few minutes early, just in time to witness the Rove Treatment, which, like LBJ’s famous browbeating style, is becoming legend but is seldom reported. Rove’s assistant, Susan Ralston, said he’d be just a minute. She’s very nice, witty and polite. Over her shoulder was a small back room where a few young men were toiling away. I squeezed into a chair near the open door to Rove’s modest chamber, my back against his doorframe.

Inside, Rove was talking to an aide about some political stratagem in some state that had gone awry and a political operative who had displeased him. I paid it no mind and reviewed a jotted list of questions I hoped to ask. But after a moment, it was like ignoring a tornado flinging parked cars. "We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!" As a reporter, you get around—curse words, anger, passionate intensity are not notable events—but the ferocity, the bellicosity, the violent imputations were, well, shocking. This went on without a break for a minute or two. Then the aide slipped out looking a bit ashen, and Rove, his face ruddy from the exertions of the past few moments, looked at me and smiled a gentle, Clarence-the-Angel smile. "Come on in." And I did.

It is said that every time Karl Rove laughs an angel bursts into flames.

They’re coming back to Washington, D.C. Will you stand with them? As you’ll recall, the first Gathering of Eagles in March to counter the White Flag mob drew unprecedented masses to the nation’s capital in support of the troops and their mission.

Finally. All of that hard work (and six million dollars) paid off and 4516 Iowans, with nothing better to do until cow-tipping season begins, showed up for a free bus ride and lunch to select Mitt Romney as the bestest person in the world to win the War On Terror by strapping evildoers to his car roof and driving real fast until they shit themselves. Hey, if he'd do it to his dog, one can only imagine what he would do to an Islamonotlatterdaysaintian.

In honor of the Five Brothers choosing to not serve in Iraq and instead attempting to get their dad elected President and then cashing in on the connections, the Romney campaign wisely elected to dress their volunteers (the Mittiots) in yellow

I'm a little sad to be nearing the end of my tour of Iowa as I visited the 97th and 98th counties yesterday, although I must admit that I am excited both for the Iowa State Fair and the Ames Straw poll coming up. From what I hear you can get any sort of deep fried treat you'd like at the fair, I'm hoping for a Snickers. The life sized butter cow promises to be another highlight. As for Ames, I can't wait to see family and friends and work hard to get my dad a victory there.

Tagg and I visited Albert, the world's largest bull, in Audubon County.

According to Chris Muir, the American military in Iraq is comprised of heavily armed hot women in baby tees and short shorts and you can still dress like Steve Jobs despite the 115 degree temperatures.

In a state with a population of approximately 3 million people, Mitt Romney spent close to $6 million dollars to garner 4516 votes. Which, if my calculations are correct, means that I finished a mere 4516 votes behind him without spending a penny.

You may see the invasion of Iraq as a disastrous clusterfuck that has resulted in $450 billion wasted, a country destroyed, and almost 3700 dead American soldiers, but I see it as a character-building experience for the brave soldiers who aren't dead yet. Kind of like summer camp.

Bonus actual Kristol:

What does this imply? That the soldiers who have done well in Iraq will be major figures in American life for the next couple of decades. These men and women are no less suited to national leadership than are entrepreneurs, lawyers or local community leaders. In fact, they've had to show more courage, they've had to operate in a more fluid and volatile environment--and they've risked their lives for their country. Just as John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush benefited from their experience as young officers in World War II--and from the high regard in which their experience was held--so the Iraq vets will have every chance to rise to the top of American public life.

A discrimination lawsuit charges federal officials and JetBlue Airways with racial profiling for refusing to let an Iraqi man board an August 2006 flight at Kennedy International Airport because he wore a T-shirt inscribed with an Arabic phrase.

The incident is part of a discriminatory pattern at U.S. airports since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with officials targeting people perceived to be of Arab descent — particularly those displaying their ethnic background or religious faith, two civil liberties groups said Thursday in filing the lawsuit.

The ACLU, joined by the New York Civil Liberties Union, filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of Raed Jarrar. The architect and political analyst, who has permanent U.S. residency, was barred from the JetBlue flight for wearing a shirt that read, in English and Arabic, "We Will Not Be Silent," according to the complaint.

[...]

Last August, a Transportation Security Administration official identified only as Inspector Harris pulled Jarrar away from a boarding gate, took him to a JetBlue counter and told him his shirt made other passengers uncomfortable, the complaint said.

Jarrar was told to cover up the message if he wanted to board the flight to his home in Oakland, California. The TSA official equated wearing Jarrar's an Arabic shirt to an airport with "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, 'I am a robber,'" the complaint said.

The ACLU said it was clear Jarrar, who has been a legal resident since 2005 and is married to an American citizen, was "not a security threat." It said the TSA official and JetBlue should have simply assured any uncomfortable passengers there was no safety or security risk.

If he had been wearing one of these babies, he would have upgraded to First Class. Window seat for John Doe, now boarding.